BlackBerry devices come with password protection. The owner has the capability to protect all data on the phone with a password. The user may also specify the amount of attempts for entering the password before wiping all data from the device.

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[[Image:Image1.jpg]]

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Disk imaging is the process of making a bit-by-bit copy of a disk. Imaging (in more general terms) can apply to anything that can be considered as a bit-stream, e.g. a physical or logical volumes, network streams, etc.

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If you exceed your password attempts limit (defaults to 10, but you can set it as low as 3), you will be prompted one last time to type the word BlackBerry.

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The most straight-forward disk imaging method is reading a disk from start to end and writing the data to a [[:Category:Forensics_File_Formats|Forensics image format]].

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This can be a time consuming process especially for disks with a large capacity.

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[[Image:Image2.jpg]]

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== Compressed storage ==

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A common technique to reduce the size of an image file is to compress the data.

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On modern computers, with multiple cores, the compression can be done in parallel reducing the output without prolonging the imaging process.

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Since the write speed of the target disk can be a bottleneck in imaging process parallel compression can reduce the total time of the imaging process.

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[[Guymager]] was one of the first imaging tools to implement the concept of multi-process compression.

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The device will then wipe. It will be reset to the factory out-of-the-box condition (default folder structure), and the password reset. You will lose everything in the device memory, with no possibility of recovery. It will not reformat the microSD card, since that's not part of the factory configuration. The phone will still be usable, and the operating system will be unchanged. So this technique cannot be used to roll back from an OS upgrade problem.

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Other techniques like storing the data sparse or '''empty-block compression''' can reduce the total time of the imaging process and the resulting size of new non-encrypted (0-byte filled) disks.

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Obviously this is a serious problem if you need to perform forensics on the device. The best work around is to work with the owner of the device and hopefully get them to disclose the password.

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== Error tolerance and recovery ==

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== Acquiring BlackBerry Backup File (.ipd) ==

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== Smart imaging ==

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Smart imaging is a combination of techniques to make the imaging process more intelligent.

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* Selective imaging

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* Decryption while imaging

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1. Open Blackberry’s Desktop Manager<br/>

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=== Selective imaging ===

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2. Click “Options” then “Connection Settings” <br/>

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Selective imaging is a technique to only make a copy of certain information on a disk like the $MFT on an [[NTFS]] volume with the necessary contextual information.

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[[Image:4.JPG]]<br/>

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4. Select “USB-PIN: 2016CC12” for connection<br/>

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[[Image:1.JPG]]<br/>

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5. Click “Detect”, then it should show a dialog box saying it found the device<br/>

Encrypted data is worst-case scenario for compression. Because the encryption process should be deterministic a solution to reduce the size of an encrypted image is to store it non-encrypted and compressed and encrypt it on-the-fly if required. Although this should be rare since the non-encrypted data is what undergoes analysis.

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<br>Or

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<br>Download Trial Version

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<br><br>2. Use File | Open and point the program to the BlackBerry backup file (.ipd).

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<br><br>3. Navigate to the appropriate content by using the navigator icons on the left.

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== Blackberry Simulator ==

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== Logical image ==

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This is a step by step guide to downloading and using a Blackberry simulator. For this example I downloaded version 4.0.2 in order to simulate the 9230 series.

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== Also see ==

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[[:Category:Forensics_File_Formats|Forensics File Formats]]

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1. Select a simulator to download from the drop-down list on the [https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=060AD92489947D410D897474079C1477]Blackberry website. Click ''Next''.

4. On the next page, reply accordingly to the eligibility prompt and click ''Next'' to continue.*

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5. Agree or disagree to the SDK agreement and click ''Submit'' to continue.*

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6. The next page will provide you with a link to download the .ZIP file containing the wanted simulator.

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* - If you disagree at any of these point you will not be able to continue to the download.

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INCOMPLETE, WILL COMPLETE BY 11.3.2008

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Below is an example of a 7510 simulator. These simulators ARE capable of connecting to Blackberry Desktop Manager

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[[Image:Image3.jpg]]

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== Blackberry Protocol ==

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http://www.off.net/cassis/protocol-description.html

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Here is a useful link to the Blackberry Protocol as documented by Phil Schwan, Mike Shaver, and Ian Goldberg. The article goes into great description of packet sniffing and the protocol as it relates to data transfer across a USB port.

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Revision as of 12:11, 21 July 2012

Please help to improve this article by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the discussion page.

Disk imaging is the process of making a bit-by-bit copy of a disk. Imaging (in more general terms) can apply to anything that can be considered as a bit-stream, e.g. a physical or logical volumes, network streams, etc.

The most straight-forward disk imaging method is reading a disk from start to end and writing the data to a Forensics image format.
This can be a time consuming process especially for disks with a large capacity.

Contents

Compressed storage

A common technique to reduce the size of an image file is to compress the data.
On modern computers, with multiple cores, the compression can be done in parallel reducing the output without prolonging the imaging process.
Since the write speed of the target disk can be a bottleneck in imaging process parallel compression can reduce the total time of the imaging process.
Guymager was one of the first imaging tools to implement the concept of multi-process compression.

Other techniques like storing the data sparse or empty-block compression can reduce the total time of the imaging process and the resulting size of new non-encrypted (0-byte filled) disks.

Error tolerance and recovery

Smart imaging

Smart imaging is a combination of techniques to make the imaging process more intelligent.

Selective imaging

Decryption while imaging

Selective imaging

Selective imaging is a technique to only make a copy of certain information on a disk like the $MFT on an NTFS volume with the necessary contextual information.

Decryption while imaging

Encrypted data is worst-case scenario for compression. Because the encryption process should be deterministic a solution to reduce the size of an encrypted image is to store it non-encrypted and compressed and encrypt it on-the-fly if required. Although this should be rare since the non-encrypted data is what undergoes analysis.